The ornate gilt brass case, rising from swept feet having serpentine angles dressed with cast and chased spandrels and putti, the swagged frames housing the gros bleu and giltwork ground polychromed hand painted plaques depicting disporting putti; the carrying handle held by addorsed cornucopia; the eight day movement with an alarm, and striking the hours on a gong; the backplate bearing the number 29265, and enclosed by a vertically sliding door. The face marked with an illegible name, and ‘Pere & Fils, Horologers du Roi, Turin’. The key, original to the piece, is stamped with the same serial number.French, Circa 1885

Provenance

Pierre & Alfred Drocourt were one of the top makers of carriage clocks in the mid to late Victorian period, having a factory at Saint-Nicolas-d’Ailermont in France, which was the most important town for carriage clock manufacture at the time. They also had premises in Paris at Rue Debelleyme 28 and Rue de Limoges. Pierre & Alfred Drocourt made superb carriage clocks that were often decorative and were awarded numerous medals at exhibitions, such as the Bronze Medal at Paris 1867, the Silver at Paris 1878 and the gold at Paris in 1889. The son, Alfred Drocourt, succeeded his father Pierre Drocourt sometime in the 1870s.